Promises
by Writer in the Shadows
Summary: Harry and Ginny are getting married! Harry has thoughts in his head before, during, and after the ceremony that lead him to believe that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...
1. Prologue

~*~Prologue~*~

"You look so beautiful tonight," Harry said to her, looking into her eyes. This was the night he had been planning for days, weeks, even months. He had lost track of the time since the idea had first arisen in his mind. He had planned it out to the very second. He had every line he was going to say memorized so he didn't mess it up like he had a habit of doing. She blushed at the sound of those words, and Harry reached across the table to grab her hand. "I love you, Ginny Weasley," he told her, lifting her hand and kissing it gently.

"I love you too," she returned, sipping a little of her wine and placing the glass off to the side of the table. Harry got up from his seat, and walked over next to her. He kneeled down and reached inside his jacket pocket to pull out a small box.

It was at this point in time that he hit a road block. The words he had planned in his head, down to which words to emphasize, were lost. His mind went completely and utterly blank as he stared up into Ginny's eyes.

"Um," was all he managed to spit out.

"Well, Harry, you better have something better than that to say. Try again," Ginny joked, enjoying watching him squirm due to his nerves. He had never been much good with explaining his feelings to her.

"Ginny, we've been dating for three years now, and, well, I know these feelings that I have for you will only grow stronger in the coming years, as they have been growing since I met you. I can't see any way that I could ever be happier than if we could spend the rest of our lives together. Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?" he asked the question he had feared to ask for so long. There was a long silence between the couple. Many people were chatting around them, and many eyes were upon Ginny awaiting her answer. Harry was beginning to get worried by the silence.

"Yes!" she exclaimed finally, grabbing him around the neck. Harry withdrew the diamond ring from the black velvet box, and placed it upon her hand, kissing her on her lips.

"I love you," he told her, picking her up off her feet.

"I love you too," she replied, returning the kiss. Days passed from that night, and Harry's anticipation of the ceremony grew, though it was still months away. He was still wondering if she really meant it when she said 'yes'. He had a small feeling within his heart that said maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Was he really ready to give his heart and soul to one woman for the rest of his entire life?

The time had come for them to break the news to Harry's best friend and Ginny's brother, Ron. They had decided it best to invite him over for dinner, and tell him over food, as that was the one thing that always made Ron in a good mood.

"Ron, there's something we need to tell you," Harry said to his best friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law.

"Wha's 'at?" Ron inquired, chewing food whilst spooning more potatoes onto his plate, having finished his first plateful of food before Harry and Ginny had finished even a third of their own.

"Well Ron, Harry and I have decided to get married," Ginny told her brother, not sure of how he would take the news.

"You did what?!" Ron shouted, spitting water all over the table.

"Ron, don't be such a prat. We love each other. You should be happy that Harry's the one I'm marrying. You know he won't let anything happen to me! You should trust him!" Ginny said angrily, not understanding why Harry was so worried about what Ron would think.

"You know what Ginny, I'm happy for you and Harry. I really am," Ron admitted, grabbing his sister and best friend and pulling them into a hug. Now that they had told everyone that they were getting married and everyone approved, all that Harry needed to get was some reassurance from himself.


	2. Chapter One Regrets

"I can't believe I'm actually getting married," Harry thought as he stood at the altar with Ginny Weasley, in front of all of his friends. He could feel his heart beating faster with every given moment, and he could feel a drop of sweat roll down the side of his face. "Am I really ready for all of this?" he began asking himself. "This is a big step in my life. I'm not really sure if I want to go through with this – not sure if I'm ready for this. My life will be changed forever," he thought to himself, his eyes opening wider as the minister continued speaking from the small book of notes he held in his hands. Harry knew the question that was about to be asked of his soon to be wife.

"I do!" she exclaimed, turning to grin broadly at Harry, who stood facing her in a tuxedo. He returned the smile, but deep inside he wasn't really sure he felt the same way. However, he tried to hide that fact from Ginny.

"And do you, Mr. Harry James Potter, promise to take care of Miss Ginevra Weasley, through all eternity, through good times and bad, through sickness and health?" the minister asked him.

"Oh, dear Lord! What am I doing? I'm not ready for all of this!" he thought to himself, his heart now beating faster than the speed of light. He could feel the eyes of the entire audience staring up at him, awaiting his response. He heard his friends whispering something about why it was taking him so long to answer. His mouth was dry and he found himself incapable of speaking.

"Harry! Answer!" Ginny nudged him in the side, forcing him to snap out of his gaze. He listened to the dead silence around him. There was no more talking in the audience; there were no birds chirping in the distance. It was as though all of the nature around him was staring upon him.

"I do," Harry finally replied, looking back into Ginny's eyes and smiling at her.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!" the minister said rather loudly. Harry looked at the minister and saw him smiling and gesturing towards Ginny. Harry grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off of the ground, kissing her very passionately.

"I love you, darling," Harry told her, releasing her from his hold. She returned the comment, and they kissed briefly.

Not too long after the wedding, they were sitting at a table in a gorgeous hall with champagne in their hands, sipping it gingerly. Ron and Hermione joined the two at the table, holding hands. Ron was the Best Man, and Hermione was the Maid of Honor. Fleur and Luna were her fellow bridesmaids.

They had only been out of Hogwarts for two years, and had been living with each other ever since then. Ron and Hermione had become a couple just a few months prior to Harry and Ginny's wedding, but were not currently engaged. However, Ron had asked Harry for a few pointers a week or so before the wedding about how to go about asking Hermione.

Voldemort was now gone from the world along with most of Voldemort's army, thanks to Harry and the rest of the Order. There were a few people, however, who still did believe in Voldemort's actions, including Rabastan and Rodolphus Malfoy, who had attacked Harry just after Voldemort's fall. The Order of the Phoenix was no longer needed, although many of its members still gathered for special occasions, including the day of Harry Potter's wedding.

Harry wished his godfather, Sirius Black, could have been there. Sirius was the bravest man he knew. Sirius was a member of a very large list of guests Harry wished could have made it, including Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Fred, Dumbledore, Snape, and of course, his parents. Everybody in the room looked the best Harry had ever seen them since they had all met many years ago.

"Ah, well, it's over. It's final - I have married Ginny Weasley. I can't believe its true, but it is. I never knew it would last this long, and never thought I would be marrying her. I definitely did not know I would be going this far," he pondered to himself whilst Ginny was talking to her mother and Hermione.

"You take good care of my daughter, ya hear?" Mr. Weasley told him, clapping him on the shoulder. He was getting quite old, and was nowhere near as energetic as the first time Harry had met Mr. Weasley. Although, Mr. Weasley still had his great sense of humor, and was as kind as ever, Harry could tell that spirit was starting to fade. "She means everything in the world to me, Harry. I know you'll stick around with her, eh?" he said to his new son-in-law, laughing heartily.

This triggered a thought in Harry's mind. He had to take care of her _until the end of the world_. He would have the whole entire Weasley family after him if he ever let anything happen to her. "What if I screw up and something happens to her? Mr. Weasley will kill me! And so will Ron!" Harry thought to himself, his eyes widening.

"Oh, I'm sure you will," Mr. Weasley assured him. "I'm happy to have you in the family, Harry. I've always thought you and Ginny looked so perfect together, ever since the summer before her first year at Hogwarts," he told Harry, his eyes looking as if he was going to cry. Harry knew they were really only tears of happiness, happiness that his little girl was all grown up, and married to someone he could really count on.

"Congratulations, Harry!" he heard a familiar voice call from his left. Harry turned to see Neville Longbottom walking towards him. He watched as Neville tripped over George's foot and fell with a smack on the floor. "I'm alright!" he called out, getting up right away and dusting himself off. Harry got up to help him over, but Neville persisted he was all right. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he kept saying, moving Harry's hand off his shoulder. "As I was saying before, Harry, congratulations!"

"Thanks, Neville, good to see you," Harry said, putting a fake smile on his face. Harry had always thought his wedding day would be a lot happier. He was feeling the complete opposite; he was rather depressed.

"You don't look too good, Harry. What's wrong?" Neville inquired, looking at Harry peculiarly. "You look really sick. Take a seat, Harry," Neville demanded of him. When Harry wouldn't sit down, Neville took things into his own hands, and pushed Harry back down into his seat.

"I'm fine, Neville!" Harry insisted, trying to turn away.

"You don't look fine to me." Neville looked at him sternly. Harry didn't have time to reply, because it was at that point in time that Ron stood up with his glass of champagne in hand.

Harry could not focus on the toast Ron was making, because he began to feel incredibly sick. Neville was right; he wasn't feeling well at all. "I feel like I'm going to faint," Harry thought to himself, clutching his chest. His heart was burning, and his vision was getting very blurry. The sounds of Ron's toasts were getting fuzzy, and he could barely hear what he was saying. He saw Ron look over at him and point, his jaw dropped in astonishment. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley rushed over to his side and started asking him questions, but Harry could not hear what it was they were saying. The last thing he saw was Ginny hovering over him, tears welling up in her eyes. His vision went completely black, and he could not see or hear anything else.


	3. Chapter Two Suspicions

He awoke in an unfamiliar place.

"Where am I?" he asked, moving his hand to his forehead to feel his temperature. He groggily sat up in bed and peered around to see Ginny standing there.

"You're in St. Mungo's," Ginny answered, brushing his hair out of his eyes. As he looked around he saw velvet curtains dividing him from the rest of the patients. He could vaguely hear the person lying in the bed on the other side of the curtain to his right mumbling something about everybody being "out to get him."

"Don't mind him; he was cursed with a disillusioning charm," she told him, noticing how distracted Harry was.

"Well, what happened to _me_?" He could barely speak. All that was coming out was a whisper. His heart was still burning a bit, and his vision was still quite blurry, but the knot in his stomach had untied itself, and he was beginning to think clearly.

"Someone was trying to ruin the wedding. Someone didn't want us to get married, for some reason or another, so they tried to hurt you beyond repair. They didn't want to kill you; they just wanted to knock you out of the picture. We still don't know who it was." Ginny had a look of extreme worry upon her face.

"Why would anyone want to do that?" he thought to himself. "Why would anyone not want Ginny and I to get married? What possible reason could they have?" he continued to ponder to himself. There was nobody he could think of who would have wanted to hurt him like this. There were no angry ex-boyfriends of Ginny's of whom he could think.

"Hey Harry, how ya doin', mate?" he heard a voice ask him. He looked up from his bed and saw Ron walking through the curtains that engulfed his bed. "You're not really looking too much better than yesterday," Ron said with a quiver in his voice.

"Yeah, well, I'm not _feeling_ too much better, either. What the hell did they do to me, whoever they are?" Harry inquired, though he knew Ron wouldn't have a clue either.

"I have no idea, Harry. But whatever they did must've really taken a toll on you. Just look at yourself. You're as pale as a ghost," he answered, a look of bewilderment crawling onto his face.

"Harry, honey, you should really get some rest," Ginny said, leaning over and giving him a gentle kiss upon his forehead. "You really don't look like you're feeling well. Maybe we should just leave you be for a little bit. We'll be waiting outside for the time being." Harry nodded in acknowledgement as they walked through the curtains. He could hear them whispering to each other about something.

"How long do you think it'll take for him to be on his feet again?" Harry heard Ron ask, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, as if he doubted Harry would ever be back on his feet.

"I don't know, but I hope it isn't long," Ginny answered. Her voice was very soft, and their voices were getting quieter. Harry supposed they were walking off towards the waiting room. As he rested in his bed, he began thinking about who could have possible wanted to make him so ill.

"Who did this?" he asked himself, whispering so nobody thought he was crazy. He had to say it out loud; verbalization helped him. "There must be some explanation for this mess. Hmmm...let's see...who was there? Neville, George, Dean, Seamus, Ron. Maybe Ron did it! He didn't really seem all that approving of his and Ginny's marriage. But no, it couldn't have been him. Even he isn't that cold-hearted. Michael Corner! It must have been him!" He sat up quickly at this idea and stared off in front of him. "Who else could it have been? He has perfect reasoning! He's just jealous because I ended up with Ginny!" he muttered to himself. It was at this precise point in time that the nurse walked in and stood next to his bed.

"When can I leave?" he demanded of the nurse, slamming his fist into his bed for emphasis.

"I was thinking you should stay here for about two more days," she told him. "The doctor agrees," she added after noticing the skeptical look in his eyes. She glanced up to look at him again before resuming her work fixing whatever it was she was looking at beside his bed. She jotted down some information she retrieved from a machine next to his bed on a clipboard before promptly leaving. Harry was left sitting there staring at the curtain that divided him from the man in the space to his left. The voice sounded oddly familiar to him. The person was mumbling something about autographs.

"Gilderoy Lockhart!" he murmured to himself, his eyes widening in shock and his jaw nearly dropping to the floor. "I can't believe he's still in here!" he thought to himself. This triggered something in his brain. That was the first time he really started to feel something for Ginny, that day in the chamber. He had saved her, and that experience created a relationship between the two. It was the first time he really thought of her as more than just Ron's little sister. The curtains flew open, and Harry saw Lockhart scramble across the floor to his bedside.

"Have I met you before? I heard you saying my name..." he asked in a very awkward-sounding tone.

"Um...yeah, you have." Harry rolled his eyes, not knowing what to say to someone who really didn't seem to understand things that well. "I was there the day your memory went all... kaflooie," Harry told him, speaking in a way most people talk to babies.

"Kaflooie? Now there's an odd word..." Lockhart muttered, staring up at the ceiling. "Say, would you like an autograph? And how about one for your cute red-haired friend? Would she like one too? I was quite famous once, you know!" Lockhart told him matter-of-factly, his smile stretching across his face and his eyes growing larger.

"Gilderoy! What have I told you about bothering the other patients? Get back in your bed!" Harry looked straight ahead and saw his nurse poking her head through the curtain. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Potter. I'll make sure he doesn't wander out of his bed again."

He felt isolated as Lockhart snuck back into his bed. Not only was he cut off from the outside world, but he was cut off from everybody else who was stuck in the hospital. The confinement killed him. The area around him was very silent and dark. There was nothing for him to do but to sleep, so he laid his head back on his pillows and thought about everything that had happened recently. He thought about his life with Ginny, and about Michael Corner, the man whom he suspected had tried to dismantle his and Ginny's relationship. But Harry was determined not to let Michael Corner ruin the good thing he had going with Ginny. He would exact revenge on this boy for trying to hurt him and cause great suffering.

"Harry," a voice whispered in the back of his mind. He had heard the voice many times before, the most recent time being when he had conquered the nefarious Lord Voldemort. It was the voice of his father, James Potter, who still lived on in Harry's subconscious. "Harry, you need to just relax. You don't even know for sure if it was this Michael kid. Just calm down and don't do anything too rash that you will regret. You need some rest. You still haven't fully healed from the incident," his father told him, all too wisely.

Harry sighed.

"I know," he replied, muttering to himself. He closed his eyelids and moments later drifted off into the deepest sleep he had had in weeks.

"Look at him," Ginny whispered to her brother as they emerged from behind the curtains. Harry was still fast asleep at that time, with his left arm dangling off the side of the bed and his glasses slanting sideways across his face.

"Nobody admits to seeing anyone do anything suspicious during the reception," Ron informed his sister, staring at his best friend who was lying in a hospital bed. "We have absolutely no leads as to who did this to him."

"I have an idea, though," Ginny said, lowering her head and staring at the ground.

"Who do you think it was?"

"Dean," Ginny told him. "He's probably still angry because I dumped him."

"That filthy scumbag!" Ron said a little too loudly. Ginny smacked him on his arm to make him quite down. "Sorry," he mumbled. "He's going to hear it from me. I don't know why you ever dated him. I'll go have a word with him." An evil grin spread across his blood-red face.

"Please, Ron, don't do anything too rash," Ginny demanded of him, in the same tone of voice Harry had just heard his dad. Ron walked out through the curtains, almost tripping as he did so.

Ginny walked over to Harry's bedside. She grabbed his hand and sat down beside him. "Everything's going to be okay, Harry," Ginny whispered softly. "Everything will be okay." She put her other hand on his shoulder, and gave him a peck on the cheek. She left his side and went out to the waiting room once more where her parents and her brothers were all sitting, talking about Harry.

"I do hope Harry's all right," Mrs. Weasley said. Her face was becoming paler by the minute, since she had not seen Harry yet.

"He's been through much rougher situations than this. He'll be fine; he always is," Mr. Weasley consoled her. He had true faith in Harry's recovery.

"I'm sure you're right, Arthur. It's just been causing Ginny so much distress. She's really worried, and hasn't been to work in days," Mrs. Weasley replied.

"You do know that I'm standing right here, don't you?" Ginny jumped into the conversation.

"Oh, sorry, Ginny, dear. We didn't see you walk in here. How's he doing? They wouldn't let the rest of us back there," her father told her.

"He's sleeping right now. He doesn't look too well though. His face is ghost white, his eyelids are swollen, his ears are purple, and his voice was barely a whisper when he was awake. He sounded really angry about what happened though, especially since we didn't know anything to tell him."

"Well, I can't blame him. I'd be quite angry myself if somebody tried to kill me at my wedding," George tried to explain. He thought Harry's reaction was quite normal. "What's wrong with Ron? We saw him run out of here, and he wouldn't stop to tell us what was going on."

"Oh, well, we think we know who it was – Dean. We used to date. Ron's just a bit angry with him at the moment. I told him not to do anything too rash, but I don't think he'll listen; he never does," Ginny told them. In her mind she really doubted that Ron would ever take her advice. She knew if he got his hands on Dean, he would be a goner.

Little did she know, Dean happened to be in the lobby of the hospital, coming to check on how Harry was doing. He and Ron had just crossed paths.


	4. Chapter Three Revenge

"What did you do to him?" Ron demanded of the boy he was berating. Ron could see that he was very scared; he could see the fear in his eyes and the quiver in his lip.

"What did I do to _who_?" Dean replied, not quite sure of what Ron was talking about.

"To Harry! What did you do to Harry at his wedding?" Ron continued to interrogate him.

"What are you getting at, Ron? You know I would never do something like that to Harry! We were in the same class, remember?"

The more Ron thought about it, Dean was right. It didn't make much sense. Dean had never shown any anger that Harry had dated Ginny when the two of them had broken up. Why would he have all of a sudden become angry about it?

But even so, something didn't sit right with Ron still. If it wasn't Dean, who could it have been?

"Dean, you were in love with my sister, and now she's married to Harry. Why shouldn't I suspect you?" Ron continued to interrogate him.

"I didn't do anything! I swear! In fact, I'm here to visit Harry!" Dean yelled. This attracted the attention of many of the people in the waiting room of the hospital, including Ginny Weasley, who had just wandered downstairs.

"Ron! Stop!" a voice shouted from behind Ron. Ron did not know that his little sister was running towards him from the doors, tears streaming down her face. "Stop, Ron! Leave him alone!" Ron turned around from Dean, and faced his sister.

"What's to stop me from doing something to him?" Ron inquired.

"Ron, please don't do anything! You don't even know if he did anything to Harry! He said he didn't do it, so why shouldn't we believe him?!" Ginny screamed, her face turning a dark shade of violet.

"Just look at him!" Ron told her, turning around to face the kid he had been yelling at. But Dean was no longer there. Ron could see him off in the distance, bolting through the doors. "Oh well," Ron muttered, wandering back toward Ginny, who was surrounded by a circle of people who were previously staring at the conversation.

"What are you looking at?" Ginny yelled out, turning towards the door of the hospital. As she walked through the doors, she felt the eyes of all of the witches and wizards stare at her as she went outside.

Hermione came rushing to her side as she walked in. "It'll be okay, Ginny. We'll figure out what happened," Hermione said, attempting to console her friend. Ginny sat down in one of the seats and put her face in her hands. Hermione sat down beside her and tried to comfort her.

"Ginny, calm down. Ron was just trying to stick up for his best friend. Guys do that sometimes; they get a little defensive," Hermione said, trying to make her feel better.

"A _little_ defensive? You call that a little? Ron was about to try to kill Dean!" Ginny said, looking up from her hands and shaking her flaming red hair out of her eyes. She heard a pop in front of her, and George apparated before her eyes.

"Sorry, Ginny," Ron apologized, scratching his head as he walked to where his brother had just appeared. He turned to look at George who was in deep thought about something. "What is it, George?"

"I was just thinking about how much of a bloody git Michael Corner is," George said, lowering his head. "Ginny, Harry was right. I went in and talked to him after you too had come out talking about Dean. Harry mentioned Michael Corner being there, so I went to find him. It was him, Ginny. I found this at his house." George handed Ginny a small piece of paper. Ginny read it aloud to the group.

_Michael_

Make sure Harry doesn't recover! If you want Ginny back, you have to put Harry out of the picture FOR GOOD!

"Who wrote this?" Ginny asked. Her voice was a little shaky, and she was very scared. This meant that there were at least two people that wanted to kill her husband.

"We're not sure yet, Ginny. But all that matters is that we know who hurt Harry. Now we just have to find a good way to get even," George said, smirking at the thought of sweet revenge.

"We're placing an irreversible locking charm on his house, slipping the mixture for Ton-Tongue Toffees into his coffee, placing dungbombs in his bed, setting off fireworks in his kitchen --" Ron began to say.

"No, that's not it. We need to do something worse than that. We need to do something that'll really make it feel as if we've gotten even. Something that says 'You deserved every last minute of that.' Something he'll never forget in his whole life," Ginny told him.

"C'mon Ginny. We don't want to do anything too bad. That'll make us look like the bad ones! We just need to do something that'll make him see we're not afraid of him," George replied. "We want him to look like the bad one, not us."

"Well, I guess you're right," Ginny finally agreed. "Well, do we know where he lives?" Both George's and Ron's faces lit up in excitement. George had always wanted to pull a prank like this on someone, and this was his chance. This would be the biggest prank he would pull on someone, and it would surely help him go down in history as the most famous Prankster in the history of magic. He would dedicate it all to his twin brother.

"O' course we do!" George told her. He let out a small, but plentifully evil, laugh. Everybody could tell he really wanted to do this, and there really would be no way of persuading him otherwise now.

"Hey guys!" they heard a familiar voice say. They turned around to see Neville Longbottom walking towards them.

"There you are. Found Dean yet?" Ginny asked. They had called for Neville when they realized they needed help.

"Dean still claims it wasn't him, and that he has no idea whatsoever of what happened at Harry's wedding. That was all he said before he apparated. I didn't get a good chance to talk to him," Neville informed the group.

"Yeah, well, look at this," George said, handing him the note. Neville read it to himself, and gasped when he was done. He was just as shocked and angry as the others.

"So Michael who?"

"Michael Corner. He used to date my sister. Looks like he was a bit angry he didn't wind up marrying her," Ron answered.

"Michael Corner? No way, he wouldn't do this. You think maybe he was Imperiused?"

"There's only one way to find out, mate. I guess we have to go find him." George had his wand out and at the ready, eager to try to find Michael.

"Guys, what if it was the Lestranges again? They've already tried to kill Harry once since Voldemort's been gone. Do you think it was another of their attempts?" Ginny asked, an extreme note of worry in her voice.

"No, I just think he's a prat." Ron had to throw in his two cents on the subject, and refused to believe that Michael Corner could have been the object of another attempt by the Lestranges to kill Harry.

That night the group of them stood huddled around in a circle on a sidewalk across the street from Michael Corner's home where he was sleeping.

"All right guys, Ginny's going to unlock the door, then we're all gonna sneak inside. Ron, you know what you're doing. Neville, you know what you're doing. And I...well, I know what I'm doing too," George said, grinning broadly at the thought of it. He had always dreamt about doing something like he was getting ready to. They watched as Ginny walked silently over towards the door.

As she walked toward the door of the house, George couldn't help but think about how much he wished Fred could have been there to help them. Fred had always been willing to help Harry, and would have absolutely aided in what they were about to attempt.

"Alohomora!" they heard Ginny whisper, the signal for them to start wandering into the house. George headed directly up the stairs to Michael's bedroom to fulfill his part of the plan. His part was the fun part - he got to get even with Michael, while the others rummaged around trying to find evidence as to who had written the note to Michael.

While George peered into every room of the upstairs trying to find where Michael slept, the others were tearing through drawers and cabinets attempting to find any other notes from the person in cahoots with Michael Corner.

"Guys, he's not here," George's voice came echoing down the staircase.

"What do you mean he's not here?" Ron requested back.

"I mean exactly what I just said, dimwit. He's not here!"

As Ron, Ginny, and Neville began walked to the bottom of the stairs to meet George, the door to the house flew open. They peered over at the door, but did not see anybody there. In a split-second, Michael barged through the open doorway and fired a spell right at Ginny's head, nearly missing her.

"Levicorpus!" Ron shouted, pointing his wand at the new arrival, who flew straight up in the air and dropped his wand.

"Ginny? Ron? George? What are you all doing here?" Michael asked, a look of fear in his eyes.

"You know why we're here, Michael!" Ron shouted in response, attempting to sound frightening.

"No, Ron, I really don't!" he pleaded.

"Guys, he sounds genuine. If he was Imperiused, he won't remember doing anything to Harry," Ginny tried to persuade the guys.

"Still on and on about him being Imperiused, are you Ginny? Does it ever occur to you that he just didn't want anyone to be with you other than himself?" Ron asked her.

"Ron, does it ever occur to you that you're a git?" George had to chime in.

"Guys, I really am over Ginny! Trust me! What are you guys talking about?" At this point, even Ron could hear it in his voice that he really had no idea what everyone was talking about.

"Michael, do us a favor and stay in your house tonight. Sorry about all this. Just trust me, we don't think you are safe. We'll keep an eye out," George told him, as Ron let him down from the air.

That night, back at The Burrow, the four of them, now joined by Hermione, were sitting around trying to think of who it could have been that had put Michael under the Imperius Curse.

"Whoever it was, they would probably come back to see Michael if they knew we suspected him," Hermione added into the conversation. "If only we could see inside his house."

"Ah, but we can," George said, his face breaking out into a wide grin. He pulled out what looked to be a pair of glass eyeballs. "They're called Extendable Eyes. Same premise as Extendable Ears, but you see instead of hear. Here, take a look through them." George handed Hermione the pair of eyeballs. She looked through them and was amazed at the sight. Ginny snatched them from her to see how they worked

"Wow! I can see his house! This is amazing, George!" Ginny exclaimed, a smile forming on a face that hadn't been happy since Harry said 'I do' at her wedding.

"I put the other set on the stairs before we left so we could get a view of everything downstairs in the house," George told them, trying to impress everyone with his thinking ahead.

They took turns looking through the pair of eyes. Michael had sat in the kitchen for a while with his head in his hands. They knew he was as troubled as they were, if not moreso. He had no idea what he had done, and what had just happened in his house. All he knew was he was supposedly unsafe, but had no idea why.

Nobody showed up to Michael's house that night, much to everyone's disappointment, and Michael did not seem to do anything suspicious while they watched. As Ginny and Hermione went to another bedroom, Ron, George, and Neville stayed in the bedroom they were already inhabiting.

They sat there the rest of the night chatting about various things; they spoke about Harry, about Michael, about the note, and, of course, about Ron's idea of proposing to Hermione.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about asking her this Saturday coming up," Ron told the others.

"Really?" George asked, sitting straight up from his spot on the floor.

"Yep. I'm taking her out to dinner at that one restaurant we always go to," Ron said.

"What restaurant?" George inquired, smiling only because he knew Ron would not remember it.

"Ummm...I'm not really sure what it's called. But Hermione loves it," Ron answered. The three laughed heartily as they all turned over and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the other bedroom, Ginny had thrown herself right down on her bed after changing. She was very tired, and she fell asleep after just a few moments of lying there, dreaming about Harry.


End file.
